HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's lacrosse team won the final three quarters of its home opener against Eastern University, 7-4. However, an early deficit proved too much to overcome as the Eagles (2-0) jumped out in a front with the first seven goals before Haverford got one late in the opening quarter. That first quarter lead carried Eastern, a team receiving votes in the latest USILA Poll, to an 11-8 victory on Saturday.
Six different players scored a goal for Haverford on the afternoon. Chase Williams recorded his second multi-goal game in as many tries this season for his fifth and sixth goals of the year. Paul Hackett also added the first two goals of his collegiate career to Haverford's offense. Evan Dorman, Geoff Geppert, Jack Sollee, and Patrick Girard also tallied in the home opener. Eastern was led by three goals and three assists from David Darling.
After controlling the tempo for much of the opening half of the first quarter, Haverford was unable to crack the scoreboard first despite four runs at goal. On the opposite end, Eastern scored on its second shot of the game after Eric Caliendo saved the first Eagles' shot of the afternoon just minutes earlier. Once the goals came, Eastern scored the first seven of the afternoon in a span of just over six minutes.
Even a timeout from head coach Colin Bathory was unable to break the pace of the Eastern offensive attack. However, the Fords were able to start the stretch in which they scored eight of the game's final 12 goals in the dwindling time remaining in the first quarter. Andrew Dalke, who won eight of the 15 faceoffs he took on Saturday, picked up his own ground ball off the faceoff victory. From there, Girard would set up Williams to make it 7-1 after the opening quarter.
This sequence also gave the Fords momentum for their strongest quarter of the afternoon. During the second 15 minute session, Haverford outscored the Eagles by a 4-2 margin. Dorman started off the scoring only to be matched by Darling. Hackett's first goal of the afternoon was also matched by Eastern's Grant Ferguson on the man-up chance. However, the Fords tallied the final two goals of the opening half with Hackett scoring his second of the quarter. Jack Bodine also set up Sollee for the first goal of the freshman's career.
The Fords made it three straight goals when Williams connected on his second goal of the afternoon. This time, it was Hackett that set up the Haverford Goal and cut the lead down to just 9-6 with over 23 minutes to play. However, the Eagles scored the next two goals in a span of just under two minutes to stretch the lead back to five. Haverford got an unassisted goal from Geppert with over two minutes left in the quarter. That goal made the third quarter a 2-2 deadlock.
The offense scaled back substantially in the final quarter as Girard's third goal of the year with just seconds remaining made the game an 11-8 final. Haverford owned the shot advantage over the final quarter, 10-7, but saw Eastern come up with three saves in that time and 13 for the game to stave off the comeback bid.
Caliendo finished has afternoon with 13 saves. Eleven different Haverford players caused a turnover on Saturday. PJ Jackson led the way with four caused takeaways, a new career high for the sophomore. Haverford also held a slight 44-42 edge in ground balls. Both Williams and Geppert led the Fords with five each in that category.
Men's lacrosse will be back at home this Wednesday at 4 p.m. against Mount Saint Mary. That home date will get underway at 4 p.m.